


sunrise on the city

by writerdragonfly



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 30 Minute Flash Fic, Aftermath of Canonical Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Hints of Len/Barry, Introspection, Vaguely Post-Season 2, mentions of Iris/Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:42:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23251123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/pseuds/writerdragonfly
Summary: When he gets the news, there isn’t time to react. There are a thousand other things happening, a thousand other problems.A thousand issues that he uses as an excuse not to think about the things that matter.
Relationships: Hints of Barry Allen/Leonard Snart, minor Barry Allen/Iris West - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	sunrise on the city

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a friend, based on the prompt: sunlight, stepping stool, distance.  
> It contains vague spoilers and references to canon character death (Leonard Snart.)

When he gets the news, there isn’t time to react. There are a thousand other things happening, a thousand other problems.

A thousand issues that he uses as an excuse not to think about the things that matter.

  
  
  
  


Later, it all comes out at once. All the feelings bottled up until the pressure is too much, too high, too tight.

And it all explodes. 

  
  
  
  


It wasn’t that he loved him, that most days he even liked him. But, there was  _ something _ . Something that connected them, some tenuous thread that sometimes felt like a corded rope wrapped around his wrist and sometimes felt like a garrotte slowly tightening around his throat.

A possibility for  _ something _ .

  
  
  


And now it was gone. 

  
  
  
  


The morning after every emotion stuffed in a closet, every thought swept under the rug, every desire compressed under the bed, all springs out impossible to hide again--the morning after everything explodes, he heads up to the roof of his apartment building still in his sleep clothes. 

He stumbles over to the little step stool kept in the fledgling garden, pulls it away from a tangle of errant ivy and vine, and sets it near the edge. Sunlight drips over the city slowly, lighting up the sky in hazy shades of orange and pink. He sits down and stares, silently looking into the distance beyond it all.

  
  


Somewhere out there, there’s another him and another them and there are countless others, spilling through the cosmos and beyond.

  
  


He doesn’t have Len in this world, can never have him in any definition of the word.

But somewhere out there, Len lives and he knows that at least, in that world, they could both be happy. 

  
  
  


“Hey,” his girlfriend’s voice is soft behind him, but he doesn’t turn to face her. He feels guilty, even though he knows he doesn’t have a reason to feel it. 

She places a soft hand on his shoulder, and he reaches up just far enough to rest his own hand on hers.

“You are more than the suit.” She squeezes him gently, “You’re allowed to feel and mourn and be human.”

“How many worlds get to be happy ones?” 

She lets go of his shoulder, coming forward and nudging him just enough to share the stool with him. He knows she’s thinking about the other versions of them, the other lives they could have lived separate and together alike.

“I think they all are, in some way. But not everything can be happy for everyone at once. It’s like sunrise on the city, Barry Allen,” Iris West says with all the confidence in the world, “It’s here and it’s beautiful, but in another place, it’s a long time coming.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to comment~!
> 
> Hit me up anywhere to harangue me into writing, talk fic, fandom, or whatever catches your fancy.  
> [Tumblr: writerdragonfly](https://writerdragonfly.tumblr.com)  
> Discord: writerdragonfly#5403  
> [Twitter: writerdragonfly ](https://twitter.com/writerdragonfly)  
> PSN & Steam: writerdragonfly


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